scholarly journals Relevance of Circulating Tumor Cells as Predictive Markers for Cancer Incidence and Relapse

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Chaithanya Chelakkot ◽  
Hobin Yang ◽  
Young Kee Shin
Keyword(s):  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Cancer Incidence ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Predictive Marker ◽  
Response To Therapy ◽  
Cancer Prognosis ◽  
Novel Technologies

Shedding of cancer cells from the primary site or undetectable bone marrow region into the circulatory system, resulting in clinically overt metastasis or dissemination, is the hallmark of unfavorable invasive cancers. The shed cells remain in circulation until they extravasate to form a secondary metastatic lesion or undergo anoikis. The circulating tumor cells (CTCs) found as single cells or clusters carry a plethora of information, are acknowledged as potential biomarkers for predicting cancer prognosis and cancer progression, and are supposed to play key roles in determining tailored therapies for advanced diseases. With the advent of novel technologies that allow the precise isolation of CTCs, more and more clinical trials are focusing on the prognostic and predictive potential of CTCs. In this review, we summarize the role of CTCs as a predictive marker for cancer incidence, relapse, and response to therapy.

scholarly journals High blood flow shear stress values are associated with circulating tumor cells cluster disaggregation in a multi-channel microfluidic device

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0245536
Author(s):  
Alessandra Marrella ◽  
Arianna Fedi ◽  
Gabriele Varani ◽  
Ivan Vaccari ◽  
Marco Fato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Microfluidic Device ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Biological Significance ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Cfd Modeling

Metastasis represents a dynamic succession of events involving tumor cells which disseminate through the organism via the bloodstream. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can flow the bloodstream as single cells or as multicellular aggregates (clusters), which present a different potential to metastasize. The effects of the bloodstream-related physical constraints, such as hemodynamic wall shear stress (WSS), on CTC clusters are still unclear. Therefore, we developed, upon theoretical and CFD modeling, a new multichannel microfluidic device able to simultaneously reproduce different WSS characterizing the human circulatory system, where to analyze the correlation between SS and CTC clusters behavior. Three physiological WSS levels (i.e. 2, 5, 20 dyn/cm2) were generated, reproducing values typical of capillaries, veins and arteries. As first validation, triple-negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) were injected as single CTCs showing that higher values of WSS are correlated with a decreased viability. Next, the SS-mediated disaggregation of CTC clusters was computationally investigated in a vessels-mimicking domain. Finally, CTC clusters were injected within the three different circuits and subjected to the three different WSS, revealing that increasing WSS levels are associated with a raising clusters disaggregation after 6 hours of circulation. These results suggest that our device may represent a valid in vitro tool to carry out systematic studies on the biological significance of blood flow mechanical forces and eventually to promote new strategies for anticancer therapy.

scholarly journals Circulating Tumor Cells: Technologies and Their Clinical Potential in Cancer Metastasis

Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1111
Author(s):  
Jerry Xiao ◽  
Paula R. Pohlmann ◽  
Claudine Isaacs ◽  
Benjamin A. Weinberg ◽  
Aiwu R. He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Cancer Metastasis ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Clinical Importance ◽  
Progression Free Survival ◽  
Primary Tumors ◽  
Isolation Techniques

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are single cells or clusters of cells within the circulatory system of a cancer patient. While most CTCs will perish, a small proportion will proceed to colonize the metastatic niche. The clinical importance of CTCs was reaffirmed by the 2008 FDA approval of CellSearch®, a platform that could extract EpCAM-positive, CD45-negative cells from whole blood samples. Many further studies have demonstrated the presence of CTCs to stratify patients based on overall and progression-free survival, among other clinical indices. Given their unique role in metastasis, CTCs could also offer a glimpse into the genetic drivers of metastasis. Investigation of CTCs has already led to groundbreaking discoveries such as receptor switching between primary tumors and metastatic nodules in breast cancer, which could greatly affect disease management, as well as CTC-immune cell interactions that enhance colonization. In this review, we will highlight the growing variety of isolation techniques for investigating CTCs. Next, we will provide clinically relevant context for CTCs, discussing key clinical trials involving CTCs. Finally, we will provide insight into the future of CTC studies and some questions that CTCs are primed to answer.

scholarly journals Microfluidic Chip-Based Cancer Diagnosis and Prediction of Relapse by Detecting Circulating Tumor Cells and Circulating Cancer Stem Cells

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1385
Author(s):  
Hyeon-Yeol Cho ◽  
Jin-Ha Choi ◽  
Joungpyo Lim ◽  
Sang-Nam Lee ◽  
Jeong-Woo Choi
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Cancer Stem Cells ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Metastatic Cancer ◽  
Cancer Prognosis ◽  
Optical Biosensors ◽  
Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽  
Noise Factors ◽  
Prediction Of Relapse

Detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been considered one of the best biomarkers in liquid biopsy for early diagnosis and prognosis monitoring in cancer. A major challenge of using CTCs is detecting extremely low-concentrated targets in the presence of high noise factors such as serum and hematopoietic cells. This review provides a selective overview of the recent progress in the design of microfluidic devices with optical sensing tools and their application in the detection and analysis of CTCs and their small malignant subset, circulating cancer stem cells (CCSCs). Moreover, discussion of novel strategies to analyze the differentiation of circulating cancer stem cells will contribute to an understanding of metastatic cancer, which can help clinicians to make a better assessment. We believe that the topic discussed in this review can provide brief guideline for the development of microfluidic-based optical biosensors in cancer prognosis monitoring and clinical applications.

scholarly journals A small molecule screen identified N-Acetyl-L-cysteine for promoting ex vivo growth of single circulating tumor cells

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teng Teng ◽  
Mohamed Kamal ◽  
Oihana Iriondo ◽  
Yonatan Amzaleg ◽  
Chunqiao Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Small Molecule ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Blood Draw ◽  
Small Molecule Screen ◽  
Functional Analyses ◽  
Single Ctcs

AbstractCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) can be isolated via a minimally invasive blood draw and are considered a “liquid biopsy” of their originating solid tumors. CTCs contain a small subset of metastatic precursors that can form metastases in secondary organs, and provide a resource to identify mechanisms underlying metastasis-initiating properties. Despite technological advancements that allow for highly sensitive approaches of detection and isolation, CTCs are very rare and often present as single cells, posing an extreme challenge for ex vivo expansion after isolation. Here, using previously established patient-derived CTC lines, we performed a small molecule drug screening to identify compounds that can improve ex vivo culture efficiency for single CTCs. We found that N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and other antioxidants can promote ex vivo expansion of single CTCs, by reducing oxidative and other stress particularly at the initial stage of single cell expansion. RNA-seq analysis of growing clones and non-growing clones confirmed the effect by NAC, but also indicate that NAC-induced decrease in oxidative stress is insufficient for promoting proliferation of a subset of cells with heterogeneous quiescent and senescent features. Despite the challenge in expanding all CTCs, NAC treatment lead to establishment of single CTC clones that have similar tumorigenic features, which will facilitate future functional analyses.

scholarly journals Circulating Tumor Cells in Pancreatic Cancer: Current Perspectives

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verena Martini ◽  
Sylvia Timme-Bronsert ◽  
Stefan Fichtner-Feigl ◽  
Jens Hoeppner ◽  
Birte Kulemann
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Prognostic Markers ◽  
Cancer Prognosis ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Ductal Adenocarcinoma ◽  
Detection Tool ◽  
The Usa ◽  
New Biomarkers

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the USA and Europe; early symptoms and screenings are lacking, and it is usually diagnosed late with a poor prognosis. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been promising new biomarkers in solid tumors. In the last twenty years (1999–2019), 140 articles have contained the key words “Circulating tumor cells, pancreatic cancer, prognosis and diagnosis.” Articles were evaluated for the use of CTCs as prognostic markers and their correlation to survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). In the final selected 17 articles, the CTC detection rate varied greatly between different enrichment methodologies and ranged from 11% to 92%; the majority of studies used the antigen-dependent CellSearch© system for CTC detection. Fifteen of the reviewed studies showed a correlation between CTC presence and a worse overall survival. The heterogeneity of CTC-detection methods and the lack of uniform results hinder a comparison of the evaluated studies. However, CTCs can be detected in pancreatic cancer and harbor a hope to serve as an early detection tool. Larger studies are needed to corroborate CTCs as valid biomarkers in pancreatic cancer.

scholarly journals Circulating Tumor Cells in Gastrointestinal Malignancies: Current Techniques and Clinical Implications

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Lurje ◽  
Marc Schiesser ◽  
Andreas Claudius Hoffmann ◽  
Paul Magnus Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Clinical Outcome ◽  
Disease Progression ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Response To Therapy ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Gastrointestinal Malignancies ◽  
Progression Of Disease

Since their introduction more than 50 years by Engell, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been evaluated in cancer patients and their detection has been correlated with clinical outcome, in esophageal, gastric, and colorectal cancer. With the availability of refined technologies, the identification of CTCs from peripheral blood is emerging as a useful tool for the detection of malignancy, monitoring disease progression, and measuring response to therapy. However, increasing evidence suggests a variety of factors to be responsible for disease progression. The analysis of a single CTC marker is therefore unlikely to accurately predict progression of disease with sufficient resolution and reproducibility. Here we discuss the current concept of CTCs, summarize the available techniques for their detection and characterization, and aim to provide a comprehensive update on the clinical implications of CTCs in gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies.

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